Halloween is celebrated on October the 31st every year. It
originated from a pagan holiday and the Christian holiday of All
Saints’ Day. The name Halloween is a shortened version of All
Hallows’ Eve. Today, it is more of a fun day for children and has
largely lost its religious roots. Halloween is probably most famous in
the U.S.A. Irish immigrants took it to America in the mid-1600s and
it slowly spread across the country. Halloween is not celebrated in
many countries around the world although many people know about
it. Some Christians are not so happy that people celebrate
Halloween. They believe the holiday is un-Christian because of its
origin as a pagan "festival of the dead."
Halloween has many easily identifiable symbols. The colours orange
and black are widely used. In particular, orange pumpkins and fires
and black witches, cats and costumes are common features of this
day. One of the biggest Halloween activities is trick-or-treating. This
is when children knock on doors and ask for a small gift. If they
don’t get anything, they’ll play a trick on the person who opens the
door. Food also plays a big part of Halloween. Toffee apples are
very popular and so is anything made from pumpkin. Halloween is
also a popular topic for Hollywood. Many horror movies have been
made about it. Because of this, Halloween is now known in many
countries that never actually celebrate it.

Answer the following questions:
1) What is the origin of the word Halloween?
2) Who brought Halloween tradition to the USA?
3) What is trick-or-treating?
4) What is the most popular food at Halloween?
5) Is Halloween celebrated in your country? How?

1) What was All Saints originally called?
2) What is the custom of playing pranks at Halloween called?
3) Who were the first people to celebrate Halloween?
4) Who introduced the holiday to the USA?
5) When is All Saints day celebrated?